Muzaffar Iqbal

Muzaffar Iqbal
Born 1954 (age 61–62)
Lahore, Punjab.
Residence Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Citizenship Canadian
Alma mater University of the Punjab
University of Saskatchewan
Known for Islam and science, Intelligent design, Qur'anic studies and Islam and the West

Muzaffar Iqbāl (Punjabi/Urdu: مظفر اقبال) (born December 3, 1954 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan) is a Pakistani-Canadian Islamic scholar and author. Iqbal earned his doctorate (1983) in Chemistry from the University of Saskatchewan and then left the field of experimental science to devote himself fully to his chosen fields: literature, history, philosophy, Islamic intellectual and spiritual traditions. Between 1984 and 1990, he taught Urdu at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1984–85), wrote two acclaimed novels in Urdu, Inkhila (Uprooting) and Inqta (Severance). During 1980 and 1990, he published a number of translations of poetry of Latin American poets and wrote a series of literary essays on South American writers. He also wrote on literary theory.

Since 1990, Islam and modernity has been the focus of his attention and he has published over 100 articles on various aspect of the encounter of the Muslim world with modernity. For over a decade, he was a regular columnist for Pakistan's largest English daily. His column, published under the title of "Quantum Notes", have been published in two collections, Dew on Sunburnt Roses and Definitive Encounters: Islam, Muslims, and the West.

Career

Iqbal is the founding president of the Center for Islamic sciences,[1] Alberta, Canada, (called Center for Islam and Science when founded in 2000). He has written twenty-three books. Iqbal is editor of a journal of Islamic perspectives on science and civilization, Islamic sciences.[2] His most recent project is to produce the first Encyclopedia of the Qur'an by Muslims, Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur'an. Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur'an[3]

Iqbal's published works are on Islam, Sufism, Muslims and their relationship with modernity.

Iqbal appeared on PBS's Ask the Experts in 2003, discussing science and Islam.[4]

In an article on Islamic Science, the New York Times quoted Iqbal as a chemist and founder of the Center for Islam and Science as explaining that modern science did not claim to address the purpose of life, whereas in the Islamic world, purpose was integral.[5]

Iqbal was one of the experts called on by the Physics and Cosmology Group of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, alongside scientists including Andrei Linde of Stanford University, John Polkinghorne of Cambridge University, Paul Davies of Macquarie University and Charles Townes of the University of California, Berkeley.[6] Between 1996 and 2003, the group conducted an intensive public dialogue on science and spirituality.[7]

Reception

Roxanne D. Marcotte, reviewing Iqbal's Islam and Science, published in 2002, wrote that it "presents an articulate and concise historical introduction to intellectual developments that have shaped Islamic civilization, both religious and scientific."[8]

Another review of Iqbal's Islam and Science was published by Muhammad Suheyl Umar. His review, after describing the book's contents at length, and agreeing with Iqbal that Western accounts of science from Francis Bacon onwards have been disrespectful of Islamic science, concludes that the book is stimulating, and a welcome corrective to much muddle around the discourse of Islam and science.[9]

Books by Iqbal

Iqbal has written, edited, and translated twenty-three books. A complete list is available at: http://www.cis-ca.org/muzaffar/publications-13.pdf

In Urdu

In English

Books edited by Iqbal (Literature, English)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cis-ca.org
  2. ↑ http://www.cis-ca.org/journal
  3. ↑ http://www.iequran.com
  4. ↑ "PBS: Ask the Experts". Ask the Experts: Muzaffar Iqbal Ph.D. pbs.org. 2003. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (October 30, 2001). "New York Times". How Islam Won, and Lost, the Lead in Science. nytimes.com. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  6. ↑ Physics and Cosmology Group of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences Retrieved November 21, 2011
  7. ↑ CTNS: SSQ Program Retrieved November 21, 2011
  8. ↑ Marcotte, Roxanne D. (2006). "Ars Disputandi" (PDF). Book Review: Islam and Science by Muzaffar Iqbal. arsdisputandi.org. pp. Volume 6. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  9. ↑ Umar, Muhammad Suheyl (April 2004). "Book Review: Allama Iqbal". Islam and Science: A Review Article. allamaiqbal.com. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
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